Rafael Nadal, the No. 2 ranked seed in the 2012 Australian Open, had a scare on Day 1 with one of his knees. “Yesterday afternoon happened the more strange thing ever happen to me,” Nadal revealed to Sandy Harwitt after his 6-4 6-1 6-1 win over American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov. “I stand up. I felt the knee a little bit strange ... the knee stays with unbelievable pain ... I have no movement on the knee.”
Rafael Nadal Hears Knee Crack Before Australian Open 2012 Day 1 Match
Tournament officials quickly arranged an MRI for Nadal in fear his tournament run would be cut short due to an injury. The MRI revealed however that Nadal’s knee was structurally fine, so the 25-year old Spaniard was good to go for his match with Kuznetsov.
“I started the match with a little bit of scare at the beginning and nervous because I was really disappointed yesterday,” Nadal told Harwitt. “But, you know, after the first 10 games that was scare, I started to play with normal conditions.” Nadal will take on Tommy Haas in the next round of the Open. Haas defeated Denis Kudla 7-6(5) 3-6 6-0 7-5 on Day 1.
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